


Don't You Forget About Me

by RebelRebel



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Breakfast Club (1985)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - The Breakfast Club Fusion, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Breakfast Club AU, Breakfast Club References, But also everyone is everyone, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Enthusiastic Consent, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, LGBTQ Character, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Ben Solo, Past Domestic Violence, Pining, Plus a high school reunion, Rey is mostly Bender, Sexual Content, Sexual Repression, Sexual Tension, Smut, Softboi Ben, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Virgin Ben Solo, Virgin Rey (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-02-07 05:41:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18614290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelRebel/pseuds/RebelRebel
Summary: He wrote the letter ten years ago, but it’s still burning a hole in his pocket.—Dear Mr. Skywalker, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are.You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions.But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain…And an athlete…And a basket case…A prince…And a criminal.Does that answer your question?Sincerely — The Breakfast Club.—A Breakfast Club AU with not-quite-neat-parallels written for MyJediLife for the Reylo Writing Den Anniversary Exchange. (Yes — Rey is more Bender than anyone else.)





	1. Prologue: Changes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MyJediLife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyJediLife/gifts).



> I hope you like it, Heathyr! 
> 
> I think it's safe to reveal that this fic was beta'ed by the wonderfully talented and amazingly kind [SageMcMae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageMcMae/pseuds/SageMcMae). She also made these amazing moodboards! Thank you so much, Sage, you are the absolute best and I can't thank you enough for your input.
> 
>  
> 
>  

It’s been ten years — nearly to the day — but the school looks the same. Big. Blocky. Overwhelmingly suburban.

His fingers twitch; seeking a phantom cigarette in his pocket. The impulse feels both familiar and foreign, but he just smoothes his hand down over the empty pocket of his jeans. 

Nothing there. It doesn’t need to be. 

A bird chirps off in the distance, but he doesn’t bother checking his phone. The sun is barely overhead; it can’t be seven yet.

About twelve hours, then. 

He sighs, long and slow, and the breath unfurls from his lips like white smoke in the early morning chill.

He ducks his head. Slips his hands into his jacket. Turns away from the building, intent on meandering back to his hotel–

_ And these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds– _

Ben snags his phone from the pocket of his jeans, silencing his alarm. 

7:00 AM CST. March 17th.

Twelve hours and counting.

He has a lot to do.


	2. Young Americans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do Tibetan monks know you raid their wardrobe?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to the amazing [SageMcMae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageMcMae/pseuds/SageMcMae) for beta-ing this! Check out her works, she is amazing.

_10 Years Earlier_

 

Ben checked his grandfather’s watch.

6:39 AM CST, March 24th.

He hated being late. It didn’t matter what it was; he always arrived early. It didn’t even matter that he would’ve liked to disappoint the person waiting for him inside Shermer High School that Saturday morning — he’d been disappointed by too much lateness in his own life to adopt the habit himself.

He could control his own punctuality. He liked that.

Which is why he sat in his car in the school parking lot, resisting the urge to walk into the building twenty minutes early, white hands gripping the steering wheel too tight.

He needed a cigarette.

He was reaching into his pocket for one when a sensible blue Honda Civic parked right in front of the school.

 

///

 

“ –can’t _believe_ you did this. What would _mẹ_ and _bô_ say?”

“I don’t know,” mumbled Rose Tico, shrinking under her sister’s gaze. She wished she could sink through the passenger seat like Kitty Pryde. That or Paige could just let her out of the car.

Paige huffed, blowing bangs out of her face. Disappointment bent her brow, crinkling the skin around her eyes, but it didn’t make her any less pretty.

Strained silence pressed on both girls inside their tin can of a car until, finally, Paige continued.

“I just… expected better, Rose. You know how hard we’ve _both_ been working to– ”

“I know, Paige, okay? I know.”

Paige sighed.

“What time do I need to pick you up?”

 

///

 

As Ben slammed the door of his BMW shut and Rose climbed out of her sister’s car, an older but well-maintained van pulled into the lot, parking just behind Paige’s blue Honda.

Inside the van, an attractive blonde woman placed a gentle hand atop her passenger’s letterman jacket-covered bicep.

“Finn… If you want to talk…”

Finn Storm shook his head, but he didn’t shake off her hand.

“Ms. Organa already offered me counseling, Ms. Holdo.”

Holdo paused.

“I know that. But after what happened, I just think you might benefit from some time with Ms. Kanata. Your scholarship is important; we know that, but– ”

“I’m going to be late.”

Holdo’s hand found its way back to the steering wheel.

“Okay.”

Finn wrenched open the van door, half-shouldering the rusted thing. Before he’d spilled halfway out, Holdo spoke again.

“We aren’t Armitage Hux, Finn. Please try to remember that.”  

He didn’t reply.

The blue Honda left the parking lot, and Finn trailed the other two as they ambled up the front stairs. Hesitating, he glanced over his shoulder. Holdo was already inching her way toward the exit, but a beat-up old orange monstrosity cruised in, momentarily blocking her.

Finn turned back toward the front doors. He knew who that car belonged to.

 

///

 

Inside the orange monstrosity, Poe Dameron tried to smile.

Usually it came a little easier, but usually, his _abuela_ didn’t look at him like that.

“I taught you better than this, _Nieto_. So did your _mamá_ and _papá_.”

The smile, so tenuous already, slipped away from his face.

“I told you, _Abuela_ , this is all just a misunderstanding– ”

“ _Sí_ , a misunderstanding,” she interrupted, “That’s what all the bad Catholic boys say, _Nieto_ , but God knows the truth. He sees all. You remember that.”

His smile turned to shame in his mouth, spilling down his throat like an hourglass filling up with sand.

He was running out of time.

“ _Abuela_ – ”

She waved his words away; they dissipated faster than incense at mass.

She looked ridiculous sitting in the driver’s seat of his father’s old Camaro, weathered and tiny behind the wheel, but he knew better than to buy the image. After all, it’d been his _abuela_ who’d taught his dad how to drive a stick.

He laughed anyway.

“You think this is funny, _Nieto_? You think this is a joke?”

He laughed so hard it shook his shoulders; so hard wetness bloomed down the side of one cheek. He wiped it away still chuckling.

“It’s a giant joke. You just don’t get it.”

She scoffed at him, low and heavy in her throat — a familiar sound of indignation that hid affection and worry and pain and everything else he couldn’t drag to the surface. Not right now. Maybe not ever.

“Go, go — I don’t want to hear any more about misunderstandings or making jokes about boys being boys.”

This time, he waved _her_ words away, but unlike when she’d done it, they seemed to stick in the air; to his skin. He thrust open the car door, happy to let a little fresh air in.

“You wait for me right here when you’re done.”

“Sure, sure.”

He slammed the door shut behind him, not caring if it shook the whole car or the elderly woman inside of it.

The sound echoed in the empty parking lot–

“Kriff!”

Scratch that. _Almost_ empty.

A ratty-looking girl skulking behind the car jumped a few feet forward, landing on light feet. She glared at Poe, then pushed her way past him.

He chuckled again before shrugging and following her inside.

 

///

 

Vice Principal Skywalker somehow looked both gratified and annoyed that all five of his Saturday detention detainees were present and accounted for.

No one sat together. No, instead they’d each claimed one of the industrial-looking tables that dotted Shermer High’s massive library (a luxury even for most Chicago suburbs), careful to keep a respectable amount of distance. From Skywalker as much as each other.

“Well… well. Here we are. I want to congratulate you for being on time,” he deadpanned. Blue eyes sharp enough to slice through steel settled over each of them, but they lingered on the tallest.

Ben stared determinedly at his knuckles.

“Excuse me, sir? I think there's been a mistake. I know it's detention, but… um… I don't think I belong in here…”

All eyes except Skywalker’s swiveled to the small, quiet Asian girl near the front. Her words were barely a peep, but they all heard the implication. Skywalker pressed on, completely ignoring her.

“It is now 7:06. You have exactly eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here. To ponder the error of your ways…”

Ben shifted in his seat. Skywalker’s beard twitched.

“...And you may not talk. You will not move from these seats, and you will not sleep.”

Skywalker stared pointedly at Ben again, but he kept his head pointed toward his lap.

“Alright, people, we’re gonna try something a little different today. We are going to write an essay — of no less than a thousand words — describing to me who you think you are.”

“Is this a test?” asked the quiet girl. Again, Skywalker ignored her in favor of passing out pencils and paper to each of them.

“And when I say essay… I mean essay. I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear?”

Each student nodded, but Skywalker didn’t continue. His eyes hadn’t left Ben.

“Is that _clear_ , Mr. Solo?”

Ben couldn’t help it — he met his gaze.

“Crystal,” he replied, careful to over-enunciate each syllable.

“Good,” continued Skywalker, finally moving on. He turned, retreating back down their short aisle of tables. “Maybe you'll learn a little something about yourself. Maybe you’ll even decide whether or not you care to return.”

“You know, I can answer that right now, sir,” said Poe, standing and grinning cheekily. “That'd be ‘No’ — a no for me. ‘Cause…”

“Sit down, Dameron.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Poe winked, and a frown tugged at the sides of Skywalker’s mouth.

“My office is right across that hall.” He jerked a thumb behind him. “Any monkey business is ill-advised. Any questions?”

No one spoke. Skywalker eyed Ben again, but he kept his eyes forward.

But then, just as Skywalker opened his mouth to continue, the girl in the back piped up.

“Yeah, I got a question.”

Skywalker’s gaze fell on her. She’d set up camp at one of the tables further back, and had propped her booted feet up on the empty seat next to her. She was practically swimming in a long, very patchy wool coat and tatty red scarf.   

“Do Tibetan monks know you raid their wardrobe?”

Skywalker’s beard twitched again. His hand did, too; almost like he wanted to adjust his brown jacket — he _did_ have a very monk-like vibe going on in his oversized, 80’s style suit — but after a blip, he just chuckled.

“I'll give you the answer to that question, Miss Niima, next Saturday.” His eyes glinted with amusement, of all things. “Take all the cheap shots you want, young lady, and you'll get the bargain of your life: more Saturdays, free of charge.”

He gestured to her, then turned on his heel and left.

The rest of them kept watching her, waiting for some kind of reaction. She stared back.

 _The girl_ , Ben thought. _Miss Niima_.

Her looks were a stark contrast to the rest of her. Despite her shabby clothes, she was… pretty. The scarf practically swallowing her neck didn’t hide her high cheekbones or her hazel eyes.

He could’ve sworn he knew her from somewhere, but he couldn’t think of a name to go with her face.

“That man,” she finally declared, “is a nerf herder.”

She looked right at him when she said it, and then she grinned.

Being the idiot he was, he turned away, gazing back down at his own hands on the tabletop. He’d tied them together in a big knot of fingers.  

A few minutes passed in silence, minus a few errant noises. Someone tapping a toe. Another person coughing. A yawn.

Until–

“I've seen you before, you know.”

Ben twisted back around.

She was still grinning, and he couldn’t help but notice that she had one of those smiles that was like the sun — dazzling. He felt cheesy for thinking it, but that didn’t stop it from bowling him over.

He cleared his throat. Words stuck there, trapped. Another moment passed, and then her smile fell away. She shrugged, letting her feet fall to the floor with a _smack_.

Dameron muttered something to himself; too quietly to be comprehensible to the rest of them.

Ben stretched his shoulders, rubbed the back of his neck.

“I am a walrus,” mumbled Dameron.

Ben glanced over at him. He’d attached his pen to his lower lip. When Dameron saw him looking, he popped the whole thing right out and into his open palm.

“It’s the shits, right?” Dameron asked. This time, he was the one grinning.

“I don’t think we should be talking,” interrupted Letterman Jacket. He’d turned around in his chair to look at the three of them — Dameron, then Ben, then the girl in the back.

The Niima girl crumpled up her sheet of paper and threw it at his face, but she missed.

Letterman Jacket ignored her, but Dameron chuckled.

“You’re pretty sexy when you get angry,” he purred.

Funnily enough, he addressed Letterman Jacket, not the girl.

“Why don’t you go close that door?” asked Dameron. This time, he seemed to be talking to Ben. “Seems Skywalker has it in for you already.”

“No.”

“Why not?” asked the girl in the back. “Poe’s right.”

Ben shifted in his seat.

“Hey,” she called.

He continued to ignore her, despite feeling her eyes — and _Poe’s_ — on him.

“Hey!”

“What?” he growled, twisting to look at her again.

“I took the heat for you earlier,” she said, licking her lips. Why was he noticing that? “Least you could do is use those big muscles of yours to shut the goddamn door.”

Poe let out a low whistle that turned into quiet laughter.

“No way,” he argued.

“Why don’t you just shut up?” butted in Letterman Jacket, glaring at the girl, “Nobody here is interested.”

“Don’t speak for all of us, Sporto,” interjected Poe. “What’s your name again? Finn, right?”

Finn didn’t answer. He leaned forward over his table, craning his neck to try and catch a glimpse of Skywalker’s office across the hall.

“Hey, Sporto — what’d you do to get in here? Forget to wash your jock?” asked Poe, waggling his eyebrows.

“Uh, excuse me, guys? I think we should just write our papers,” issued the quiet girl.  

No one looked at her.

“They’re just doing it to get a rise out of you,” said Ben, leaning back against the table. “Just ignore them.”

Miss Niima caught his eye as another smile unfurled across her lips.

“Sweetheart, you couldn’t ignore me if you tried.”

Ben didn’t contradict her. He didn’t even turn back around in his seat.

“So… Are you guys like, boyfriend/girlfriend?” said Poe, eyes darting between Finn and the quiet girl. She blushed and sunk lower in her seat. Finn’s shoulders went rigid.

“Steady dates?”

A slow, scornful smile spread across Poe’s face.

“ _Looovers_?”

The pink covering the quiet girl’s cheeks crept down her neck, but otherwise, neither she nor Finn acknowledged him.

“Come on Sporto, level with me. After all, it’d certainly explain this sexual tension– ”

Finn whipped around so fast Ben thought he might get whiplash.

“Go to hell,” he hissed.

Silence suffocated the room for a split-second, and then the inevitable–

“Hey!” called Skywalker from across the hall, “What's going on in there?”

They all looked at each other, but no one moved.

“Scum,” muttered Finn.

Tension tickled the air, impatient and niggling. Poe seemed unperturbed by it; in any case, he vaulted upwards like his feet were on springs, then bounced over to the railing separating their area and the librarian’s reception desk.

“I agree with Rey. What do you say we close that door? We can't have any kind of party with Skywalker checking us out every few seconds.”

Ben couldn’t help it; he glanced over his shoulder again at the girl behind him.

“Your name’s _Ray_?”

“Like the _sun_ , pretty boy,” she winked.

“Well, you know the door’s supposed to stay open…” the quiet girl reminded them.

“So what?” asked Poe, looking at her. “Who are you, anyway?”

“Rose. Rose Tico.”

“Seriously, why don’t you just shut up?” interrupted Ben, glaring at him. Despite what he’d just said, the endless back-and-forth was wearing thin on his nerves.

And he didn’t want Skywalker to come back either.

“There are four other people in here, you know.”

“ _Gracias a Dios_ , you can count!” mocked Poe.

“Brains _and_ brawn,” quipped Rey, sidling over to where Poe stood.

“Who the hell are you two to judge anybody anyway?” Finn asked.

“Really,” Ben muttered.

Rey’s eyes narrowed.

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Ben stared her down, but she didn’t relent — she stared straight back at him, stubborn and blunt and biting. Something ugly rose in him as she stared.

“You don’t even count. If you disappeared forever, it wouldn’t make any difference. You may as well not even exist at this school. You’re nothing.”

A fleeting shadow passed over her face, so quick he barely caught it. But then she tilted her head and _looked_ at him, really _looked_ , and he clenched his jaw against that look; braced himself for _something_ , because she knew — he could see it in her eyes. Somehow, she _knew_. She could see right through him.

“You’re afraid.”

She said the words so easily he flinched, then turned away from her again.

“Talk about sexual tension…” murmured Poe. Rey rolled her eyes but said nothing.

“Look, you guys keep talking and Skywalker’s gonna come right in here. I got a meet this Saturday and I’m not gonna miss it on account of you laser brains,” said Finn.

“Oh, and wouldn’t that be tragic,” Poe said, smirking, “Missing a whole wrestling meet!”

“Well, you wouldn’t know anything about it,” grumbled Finn.

“On the contrary, I have a deep admiration for guys that roll around on the floor with other guys,” Poe shot back, sarcasm dripping like honey from each syllable.

Ben thought it tasted a little sour, and it appeared he wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“Seems like you do,” Finn retorted.

“Shut up!”

Poe’s voice carried a little too far; down the hall, they heard Skywalker’s footsteps. Rey slunk back to her seat, while Poe threw himself into the chair next to Ben’s.

They each heard it in the space of a breath: footsteps… retreating. Skywalker was heading down the hall.

Rey laughed, then slipped away from her seat again, heading for the library’s double doors.

“Rey, don’t– ”

“Skywalker said no monkey business,” warned Rose.

Rey performed a surprisingly graceful little twirl, walking backward toward the doors.

“Young lady, have you finished your paper?” she teased, grinning.

“What are you gonna do?” asked Ben. His eyes tracked Rey as she stood on her tiptoes to reach the top of the door’s hinges; the sleeve of her too-big coat had fallen to her elbow, exposing a thin arm covered in red plaid and a white tee.

And underneath, a hint of delicate wrist and forearm.

“Get caught, I hope,” muttered Finn.

Rey stuck her tongue out at him. Then, with deft fingers, she slipped a screw free from the hinges, pocketing it. The door slammed shut with a loud _bang_ , and Rey scampered back to her seat, smirking.

“Very funny,” grumbled Finn. “Come on, go fix it before Skywalker comes in here.”

“You really should…” Rose trailed off, ducking down even further.

“Am I genius?” Rey mused, finally shrugging off her coat. As she did, she pushed her sleeves back down to her wrists. Outside the library doors, they could all hear it — _click. Clack. Click. Clack._ Skywalker sauntering back toward them, one loafer at a time.

“Fix. The. _Door_ ,” Finn hissed, cheeks flushing with anger.

“Shhh,” Rey shushed him. She glanced at Ben, frowning, then arranged her face into something far more innocent than he would’ve thought her capable of.

“Maker– ”

The door banged open, and Skywalker stormed inside. Despite his middle age, he was almost as quick on his feet as Rey was.

“Why is that door closed?”

No one moved a muscle. Ben knew better than to avoid Skywalker’s eyes this time; like everyone else, he just stared at him, unspeaking.

“How’re we s’posed to know?” asked Rey. Ben marveled at how casual she sounded. She really _was_ fearless.

Or she just didn’t give a shit.

“We’re not s’posed to move, right?”

Skywalker ignored her. As expected, he turned to Ben instead.

“ _Why_?”

Ben bit the inside of his cheek.

“We were just sitting here. Like you said.”

Luke’s beard twitched again.

“Who closed that door?” His eyes flickered in Rey’s direction, but Ben didn’t let himself peek over at her.

He wasn’t a snitch.

“I think a screw fell out of it,” Rey commented. Ben still didn’t turn to look at her, but he caught her examining her nails through his periphery.

“It just closed, sir,” said Poe.

Skywalker turned to Finn, fixing him with a stare Ben knew all too well. His mom had the same one.

“Who?”

Finn seemed to deflate a little, then answered with a shrug.

“Miss Niima,” Skywalker murmured, turning back toward her. “Give me that screw. Now.”

“I don’t have it.”

“I know you do,” Skywalker argued, taking a step toward her.

“I don’t have it,” Rey continued, meeting his glacial eyes. “Screws fall out all of the time. The world’s an imperfect place.”

“Give it to me, Miss Niima. I won’t ask again.”

Ben wasn’t sure what made him do it, but the words spilled out before he could consider them.

“Excuse me, _sir_ , but why would someone want to steal a screw?”

Skywalker twisted toward him so fast he seemed to blur.

“Watch it, Solo.”

Ben bit the inside of his cheek again. Rey caught his eye — there was something imploring there, but it didn’t last — instead, they (along with the others) were distracted by Skywalker marching back to the library’s double doors to assess the damage. He grabbed a chair behind the reception desk in an attempt to hold it open.  

“The door’s way too heavy, sir,” Poe called out. Skywalker grunted, but Poe was proven right when the door sent the chair _whooshing_ down the hallway. A chuckle rippled through the group — even Finn.

“Storm, get up here.”

Finn’s laugh died as he shot up and hurried over, moving to help Skywalker position one of the library’s magazine racks as a doorstop.

“Hey, how come Finn gets to get up?” Poe asked. “If he gets up, we’ll all get up, it’ll be anarchy!”

“Watch the magazines– ”

“It’s out of our hands, Poe,” Rey lamented. She eyed Skywalker and Finn block the entire doorway with the steel rack.

“What if there’s a fire?” Ben asked. Both Rey and Poe turned to look at him. Rey’s lips twitched, just barely.

Skywalker paused, then cursed.

“Kriff,” he muttered under his breath, “Come on, let’s move it back– ”

“The school has fire exits at either end of the library,” said Rose, but Skywalker didn’t hear her over the clanging from moving the metal rack. In any case, Rey shot her a look that silenced any further protest.

Both Skywalker and Finn returned, slightly red-faced and out of breath. After waving Finn back to his seat, Skywalker turned back to his target.

For once, it wasn’t Ben.

“You’re not fooling anybody, Niima,” he groused. “The next screw that falls out is you.”

He turned to go–

“Switch off,” Rey muttered under her breath.

Skywalker spun.

“What was that?”

Rey raised her chin to him in defiance. Her eyes flashed toward Ben, but it was so brief he thought he imagined it.

“Switch. _Off_ ,” she repeated. She said it like a diction coach.

Skywalker tilted his head, staring at her for a long moment — and then he barked a laugh.

“You just bought yourself another Saturday, Miss Niima.”

Rey stretched her hands high and leaned back in her chair before resting them behind her head.

“Smashing,” she drawled.

“Another one? You got it.” Skywalker’s smirk spread across his face like oil congealed over water.

“Well, I’m free the Saturday after that, but beyond that, I might have to check my calendar,” Rey mocked him.

“That’s good to know,” Skywalker continued, injecting a false sense of seriousness into his tone, “At this rate, it’ll be filled. You want another one? Say the word, Miss Niima. I told you — I’ll give you the bargain of your life. Instead of stealing or scavenging, you’ll be here, actually applying yourself to something useful. For once.”  

A pink flush that shouldn’t have been as pretty as it was painted Rey’s cheeks, but she just raised her chin higher.

“Are you through?”

“No.”

“This isn’t going to go the way you think,” Skywalker murmured.

“So?”

“So eager to learn, I see,” Skywalker continued.

“You betcha,” Rey growled.

“Glad to hear it, because you just earned yourself another one,” Skywalker said. His smirk had fallen away to be replaced by a frown somehow far sharper.

“Stop it,” Ben grunted. Rey’s eyes snapped to his, but Skywalker ignored him. Standard operating procedure, really, unless Ben was tarnishing his _legacy_.

“You through now, Miss Niima?”

“Not even close.”

“I could do this all day.”

“Do you really think I give a shit?”

“Another, then.”

Ben watched Rey remove her hands from behind her head to around her middle, almost protectively. She didn’t seem to notice she’d even done it.

“You through?” Skywalker asked again.

“How many is that?” Rey asked. Despite her obvious rage, Ben had to marvel again at her ability to appear calm.

“That’s seven, including the one when we first came in and you asked Mr. Skywalker whether Tibetan monks knew that he raided their closets,” said Rose.

“Sounds like we should take it up to eight for the sake of balance,” Skywalker mused. “You’re here for two months, Miss Niima. Maybe you’ll actually learn something.”

“Oh, I’m _thrilled_ ,” Rey said.

Something strange passed over Skywalker’s face; familiar and foreign to Ben’s eyes. Disappointment and pride at the same time.

“I’m sure that’s exactly what you want these people to believe.”

With that, Skywalker sidled away, out into the hall and back into this office, and the rest of them averted their eyes.

All but Ben.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love to hear your feedback!


	3. Rebel Rebel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Uh, Puke– Luke?” Rey asked, too sweetly. “Excuse me, Mr. Skywalker...will milk be made available to us?
> 
> “We’re extremely thirsty, sir,” Poe said.
> 
> “You know I have a very low tolerance for dehydration,” Ben deadpanned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the wait! Thanks to everyone for their support; it was a pleasure to read all of your comments and feedback, and I hope you continue to like this mashup. And of course a big thanks to my beta, [SageMcMae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageMcMae/pseuds/SageMcMae), for all her help and support! 
> 
> Also, I made this... it's a trailer/opening titles from the original film, updated for this fic! Including the iconic song, so make sure your sound is on if you click to watch (I can't seem to embed here on AO3.)
> 
> Hope you like!

Ben couldn’t stop staring.

Rey didn’t look back at him. She was too busy groaning in frustration and plunking her head against the table with loud _thunks_. After a while, she switched to flickering a lighter next to her boots, never quite catching flame. Eventually, she got tired of that, too, and settled for lowering her hood over her eyes, snoozing softly.

(She was a bit too quiet for him to think she was really asleep. But then again, he shouldn’t have been looking, anyway.)

He didn’t know how long he stole glances at her; all he really knew was that time, thankfully, kept passing. 

Fifteen minutes. Then thirty. Then, more. Time stretched like a cat in the sun; slowly, leisurely. Before he knew it, he was blinking his eyes open to a stern Skywalker.

“Wake up! Who has to use the restroom?”

Five hands shot up in near-perfect unison.

 

///

 

By 10:22, Ben would’ve given his right hand for a sandwich. Or, better yet, a cigarette. At least he’d managed to stop staring at… 

“What are you doing?”

He twisted in his chair.

Rey was rifling through a book — was that Hugo’s _Hunchback_? — and writing in it. In _ink_.

“Making notes,” she answered Rose, who’d asked the question in simultaneous horror and fascination.

“But you shouldn’t– ”

“Can’t you write in your notebook like a normal person?” Finn asked.

“You’re right, it’s _wrong_ to destroy literature,” Rey returned, rolling her eyes at him. “Relax, I’m just making notes in the margins.”

“About what?” Ben asked. She looked up at him, and for once, she didn’t have a reply ready.

“About the book.”

“You’ve read it?”

She glared at him.

“I read.” 

“I didn’t mean– ” he tried, then pressed on, deciding he’d better not try to dig himself out of that hole. “I meant, what are you writing that warrants notes in the margins? You must like it.”

She stared.

“You’re not reading it for a class?”

“No.”

“Fan of gothic horror, then?”

She shrugged. 

“That a problem with you?”

Ben shrugged back, shaking the hair out of his face. He squished the toe of his sneaker into the industrial gray carpet, using it as an excuse to look at his feet. 

“No, no. Just, uh, curious.”

“Have you read it?” Rey asked.

He glanced back up at her — he had to now; he didn’t have any reason not to — then swallowed.

“Yes. But I prefer _Frankenstein_.”

A slow smile curled her lips. It was a smaller, slyer thing than the megawatt beam she’d leveled them all with earlier. In some ways, this smile seemed more sincere, but either way, she was smiling, and that made him feel all…squiggly.

“ _Frankenstein_ was good. Not as good as _Hunchback_ – ” she raised the book in salute, “ –but, still good.”

“What makes you think so?” he asked, deciding to ignore the death glare from Finn burning the back of his neck.

Rey’s grin grew a little wider, and his heart stuttered as she brushed the book cover with delicate fingertips. It was barely a second — barely a breath — but the way she did it made him feel like he _knew_ her; he could see the tentative affection, tremulous and trembling in her tiny fingers. 

“Quasimodo rejects the cruelty he’s been subjected to all his life, whereas Frankenstein’s creature lets it consume him,” she said. Thoughtful. _Measured_  “It’s a more hopeful story.”

Ben’s eyes swept over her face.

“You think so?”

She frowned, but before she could answer, Finn interrupted them.

“Is it true your mom is Leia Organa?” 

Ben swiveled back around in his chair to look at him.

Traitor.

The look Finn wore was too casual; a calm facade covering something shrewd and scared underneath.

“Thought your last name was Solo,” Poe said, eyeing Ben with renewed interest.

“Organa is her maiden name,” Finn added. Ben glared at him.

“Wait, wait, wait. How do you know all that?” Poe asked Finn. “You know her or something?”

“I’m sorry,” Rose interjected, clearly trying to project better than she had all morning, “but if Leia Organa is your mom, that means Mr. Skywalker is your uncle, doesn’t it?”

The library fell silent. Ben kept glaring at Finn, who finally had the decency to look away. 

“So, who talks first? You talk first, I talk first?” Poe finally asked.

Nothing. Finn shifted in his seat, still not meeting Ben’s gaze. 

“That why he keeps singling you out? What’d you do to get in here, anyway?” Poe asked. 

“Shut up, Poe.” Surprisingly, it was Rey who spoke this time.

Ben blew out a breath, heavy and loud.

“He is,” he addressed Rose, then Finn, “And she is. My uncle and my mom. Not like it’s any of your business.” His eyes flashed in Poe’s direction, but he didn’t continue. 

“Touchy, touchy,” Poe said. “You didn’t answer my question, though. What’d you do to get stuck here with us? Last I checked, being heir to the Organa empire required near-perfect, well. Everything.”

“You’re not wrong about that,” Ben grumbled, fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt, “Doesn’t matter, anyway; I’m here, and he’s hovering. So my mom doesn’t have to.”

“What does that mean?” Rey asked. She stood, meandering closer, clutching the ends of her shirt sleeves with the tips of her fingers.

“Exactly what I said,” Ben replied.

“What about your dad?” Finn asked. His face softened just a little. “Every time I — I mean, he seems really– ”

“Look, can we go back to not talking?” Ben asked. He dropped his sleeve, gripping the edge of the table instead. “Or at least talk about someone else’s fucked up family?”

Another prickly beat. Then Rey strode over, perching on the table across from his. 

“Who do you like better?”

“What?” Ben asked, staring up at her. This was the closest she’d gotten to him; he could count the freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks. 

“You like your old man better than your mom?”

“What kind of question is that?” he asked.

“I mean, if you had to choose between them,” Rey clarified. Her eyes hadn’t left him; his brain felt fuzzy, like he’d just woken up from a really deep sleep. He swallowed.

“Neither.”

Rey frowned again.

“Not your uncle?”

Ben barked a laugh at that.

“No, not him, either. None of them.” He paused, biting the inside of his cheek. “...none of them give a shit.”

She raised both brows in surprise.  

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“He’s just feeling sorry for himself,” Finn said. All softness had seeped away; in its place, he just seemed angry.

“You’re the one that asked,” Ben shot back. He paused, then– “You get along with your parents?” 

“Well if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?” Finn asked.

“You're an idiot anyway,” Ben returned, each syllable tasting bitter, “but if you say you get along with your parents, well, you’re a liar, too.”

Finn rose, looming over Ben’s table. He wasn’t too tall, but his Letterman jacket did seem to swell with his own self-importance; he looked broader, at least.

“You’re lucky we’re in school right now,” he said.

“Why’s that?” Ben asked.

“Because if we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you,” Finn finished, looking him up and down.

Ben didn’t bark a laugh this time. He just chuckled as he stood, too. Letterman jacket or no, he towered over Finn, even after leaning across the table to get even more in his face.

“I’d like to see you try.”

Neither of them noticed Rey sidling over until her head popped up next to theirs. Like Whack-a-Mole. Both boys flinched.

“You _both_ look like idiots right now,” she said, rolling her eyes. Ben couldn’t help looking at her instead of Finn — she was a lot prettier, who could blame him? — but Finn was less easily distracted; he stayed put, still scowling. 

“Come on, guys, seriously,” Rose interjected, half-pleading, half-exasperated from across the library, “is this really worth fighting over? I’m sure we all have our own family baggage. My sister– ”

“This I gotta hear,” Poe cut her off, “What about your sister? She as perfect as you?”

Rose’s face fell.

“What do you mean?”

Ben eyed Finn, who’d turned to watch the other two as readily as he had, then Rey. She was still looking at him.

Sighing, he straightened up, then sat back down. Finn started a little as he moved, but stayed where he was. 

“You can’t be that naive,” Poe continued, waving an errant hand her way, “Look at you — you’re a parent’s wet dream.”

Ben expected Rose to falter — after all, she had every other time Poe bowled them all over with his brashness — but to his (and everyone else’s) surprise, she replied coolly.

“My parents are dead.”

Another awkward silence stole through the room, and it felt like they were all collectively holding one big breath. If someone spoke, it’d be like breathing again. One big _whoosh_. 

The problem was figuring out what to say.

Poe ran a hand through his mess of curls, then finally managed it.

“Shit, Rose. I’m… sorry,” he said. He shuffled a little ways closer to her.

“You should be,” she said. 

“I am,” he replied, taking another step. “Listen, if it’s any consolation, I know how you feel…” Rose sat up a little in her seat. “I lost both of my parents, too. When I was younger. Car accident.”

Again, no one spoke. Finn finally sat down, keeping his eyes pointed toward the floor. Rey did the same, but not before giving Ben one last once-over.  

“It’s just me and my _Abuela_ , now,” Poe continued. It was the first time he’d truly looked awkward. The last man standing.  

Rose bit her lip, then nodded. 

“Same. Me and my sister, Paige. That’s all I was going to say.” She quirked a little half-smile.

Poe nodded. He opened his mouth to say something else– 

A trash can bunted one of the library doors open; DJ, the school janitor, pushing it. 

Poe’s jaw snapped shut at the new arrival. He slipped back into his seat. 

“R-R-Rey, how you doin’?”

“Your dad works here?” Finn asked Rey. She ignored him, nodding at DJ in greeting, but her cheeks looked pink again. 

“Uh, DJ?” Finn asked, turning to the janitor as he dumped a wastebasket into his can. 

“What?” 

“Can I ask you a question?”

DJ paused, glancing over at him.

“Sure…”

“How does one become a janitor?” he asked. He folded his hands together, putting on an expression of mock-seriousness. 

“You wanna be a j-j-janitor?” he asked, squinting at him.

Finn shrugged.

“No. I just wanna know how one becomes a janitor because Rey here,” he jerked his head in Rey’s direction, “is very interested in pursuing a career in the custodial arts…” 

For a second, all DJ did was stare. Bleary-eyed and disbelieving, like Finn had two heads and he was trying to figure out which mouth was talking to him. Then, a gregarious grin unfurled across his face.

“Oh, r-r-really? You think I'm just some untouchable p-p-peasant? P-p-peon?” He chuckled, and Finn shifted in his seat. “Made up words. Besides, after following a broom around after p-p-pampered kids like you for the last eight years, I’ve learned a couple of things.” 

His grin twisted into a knowing sort of smirk, and he tapped his forehead with a finger covered in white latex.

“I r-r-read the notes you pass each other. I look through your lockers. I listen to your conversations — you don’t know that, but I d-d-do. I’m the eyes and ears of this institution, Big F. And I’ll tell you — it’s all a machine, partner.”

Finn scoffed.

“You’re wrong.”

“M-m-maybe. Still– ” DJ glanced back at Rey, who gifted him a little half-smile, “ –live free, don't join.” He grinned again, then started rolling the trash back out the way he’d come. 

“B-b-by the way, that clock’s twenty minutes fast.”  

Everyone groaned except for Rey, whose half-smile bloomed bright across her face.

///

 

How was it only 11:30?

The only reason Ben’s eyes were still open was because of the evil twist in his stomach. He was starving; it had to be close to lunch–

“ _Fwhoo ooh… Fwhoo ooh ooh fwhaa fwhaa ooh_ …”

Ben tilted his head back. Rey was _whistling_.

“ _Fwhoo ooh… Fwhoo ooh ooh fwhaa ooh_ …”

Poe flashed a smile at her, then actually… joined in.

Grinning like idiots, they whistled on, better than any Disney dwarfs. Ben watched in pure fascination as Rose, and then _Finn_ joined in.

His lips formed a tentative ‘O.’ He paused, biting the inside of his cheek. Should he? He wasn’t the best whistler… 

He caught Rey’s eye, and she winked at him again.

His lips reformed the ‘O’— but, one low note later, the door to the library banged open and Skywalker marched inside.

“ _Fwhoo fwooh fwooh fwooh, fwooh fwooh fwooh fwooh fwooh… fwhooh fwooh fwooh fwooh, fwooh fwooh fwooh fwooh fwooh…”_

Ben had to hold back his laugh at Rey’s rendition of the main villain’s theme from that famous sci-fi fairytale movie. The one his uncle actually loved, if he remembered right — as evidenced by the scowl turning down his mouth as he approached.

“Alright, that's thirty minutes for lunch.”

“Here?” Poe questioned. 

“Here,” Skywalker affirmed.

“Well I think the cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, sir,” Poe suggested. He sounded like a used car salesman.

Skywalker stared at him.

“No.”

“Uh, Puke– Luke?” Rey asked, too sweetly. “Excuse me, Mr. Skywalker...will milk be made available to us?

“We’re extremely thirsty, sir,” Poe said.

“You know I have a very low tolerance for dehydration,” Ben deadpanned. Skywalker turned his scowl in his direction, but for once, Ben felt no qualms about scowling right back. 

“I've seen him dehydrate sir, it's pretty gross,” Poe added. Rey sighed, then stood up.

“Relax, I'll get it.”

“Grab some wood, Scavenger,” Skywalker grumbled. “Despite these good looks, I wasn’t born yesterday. You think I'm gonna have you roaming these halls?” 

Rey shrugged, slinking back into her seat. “You,” he pointed at Finn, “and you,” he pointed at Rose, “There's a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge. Let’s go.”

 

//

 

“So, uh, what do you like to drink?” 

Finn was having a hard time walking. And talking. Probably because of the girl walking — and _not_ talking — in front of him.

Rose wouldn’t look at him. Despite his much longer stride, she kept a brisk pace, not sparing him a backward glance as they made their way to the teacher’s lounge. He kept nearly tripping over his own feet trying _not_ to stare at the back of her head, wondering why she wouldn’t just speak to him.

He stared at his feet.

“Okay…forget I asked…” he muttered. He glanced back up — just in time, too, because she whirled around to face him; if he hadn’t looked up, he definitely would’ve knocked her over. 

“What are you doing here?”

“You mean… here in the hall?” he asked.

“Here in the detention,” she clarified, frowning. 

“You really wanna know?”

“I asked, didn’t I?”

Finn sighed, forcing his fists into the pockets of his jacket. He meandered forward, past her, but she followed next to him — he could feel her eyes on his face.

“Um, I'm here today…because uh, because my coach doesn't want me to blow my ride. I get treated differently because uh, Coach Phasma thinks I'm a winner. And my — well. Anyway,” he paused, inhaling through his nose, “I'm not a winner because I wanna be one... I'm a winner because I got strength and speed. Kinda like a racehorse. That's about how involved I am in what's happening to me.”

He stopped walking, and she did too. When he looked at her, she didn’t seem anything like she had earlier — sure, she was quiet, but there was something deeper to it, now; _discerning._  He felt like he was being X-rayed.

“Yeah? That’s very interesting,” she finally spoke, “Now why don't you tell me why you're really here.”

Finn narrowed his eyes, then pushed past her. 

“Forget it.” 

 

//

 

“You know what I wish I was doing?”

Rey was thumbing through _Hunchback_ again, chin flat on her table, face practically hidden by the book, which she’d propped up in front of herself.

“Watch what you say, pretty sure Ben here is a cherry,” Poe said, sniggering.

“A cherry?” Ben asked. He glanced at Rey. She hadn’t looked up from the book.

“I wish I was on a plane to France,” she mused, flipping through the pages.

“When have you ever gotten laid?” Poe asked. Ben frowned, then turned away from him, facing forward in his seat.

“None of your business.”

“Ever laid anyone around here?”

Ben said nothing. He crossed his arms over his chest. Uncrossed them; crossed them again. Tried not to squirm in his seat. Tried not to look over his shoulder at Rey, then failed — she was still staring at her book.

Even worse, Poe noticed.

“Oh, you and Rey?” Poe asked, “Did _it_?”

Rey’s book fell to the tabletop with a _slap_.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Ben said through gritted teeth. He glared at Poe. “Drop it.”

“No,” Rey argued, “drop what? What’re you talking about?”

“Well, I asked Ben here how many times he’s, uh, fired one of his photon torpedos into the Death Star, if you catch my meaning, and by the way he looked at you, I immediately intimated that you two have some sort of Force Bond going on,” Poe explained.

Rey’s eyes darted toward Ben in something like… surprise? But he didn’t let her get a word in.

“ _You_ intimated,” Ben growled, “You asked me if I’d ever…” he paused, gulping, “...and I just said none of your business because it _isn’t_ any of your business.”

“Well then, why’d you look at Rey?”

Ben gripped his shirt sleeves, refusing to look at the girl in question. ‘Til she spoke, anyway.

“Did you?” Rey asked. She didn’t sound as angry as he’d thought she would.

“I just moved my head back, I didn’t– ”

“Oh, you didn’t look at Rey?” Poe asked.

“Since when does glancing around the room– ”

“Did you or did you not look at Rey?” 

“Maker, _yes,_  I looked at her,” Ben blustered, throwing up his hands in frustration, “but it was only…was only because I didn't want you to know that I was a virgin.” His eyes flitted to Rey’s, then back to Poe. “Okay?”

“Why?” Rey asked.

Ben sighed, turning back to her. He was going to get a crick in his neck from all the back-and-forth glancing he was doing.

“Why?” he repeated.

“Yeah. Why didn't you want me to know you were a virgin?” she asked.

“Like I said,” he muttered, “it's my personal business.”

“Doesn't sound like you're doing any business…” Poe smarmed.

“Well, I heard you’re here for doing a little too much business, so you might wanna rethink your technique,” Ben shot back.

For once, something shut Poe up. The smirk slid off his face faster than a snake slithered through grass.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a virgin. Guy, girl, anyone,” Rey said. Ben looked back at her yet again, and she smiled another new smile, one he hadn’t seen yet — small and sweet and fleeting, and he thought he’d like to see just how many smiles she had.

 

//

 

“What’s _that_?”

Ben looked up at the question, tearing his eyes away from the mystery box that was his lunch. Probably packed by his mother’s assistant again.

Rey was hovering between Rose and Poe’s tables, staring down at what Rose was unwrapping.

“Gỏi cuốn,” Rose replied, unsticking the rolls from the plastic wrapper they were in, “Fresh rolls? Summer rolls? Veggies, herbs, and sometimes slices of meat in a rice paper wrapper.” 

“Sounds…interesting,” Rey said. 

“My sister made them for me,” Rose said, “they’re healthy.”

“I love summer rolls,” Poe said through a mouthful of empanada, “they’re so _fresh_. Hence the name.”

Rey eyed his bulging cheeks, then flitted over to Finn, who was still unpacking his massive meal: three peanut butter sandwiches, a family-size bag of chips, four pudding cups, and two apples. Rey’s eyes got rounder and rounder as he pulled each course out, spreading everything across his table.

“What about you?” Rey asked, wandering over to Ben’s table. “What’s in the mystery box?”

He shrugged.

“Good question,” he rumbled, unlatching the sides of the wooden box so he could lift off the top. “Let’s see.”

He set the lid to the side, then pulled out three trays piled with different finger foods.

“Looks like leftovers,” he said, “probably from a stupid party my mom had the other night.”

“What’re those little black bead-looking things?” Rey asked, pointing at the first tray.

“Caviar.”

She made a face.

“Gross.”

“Where’s your lunch?” Finn asked her between bites of his second sandwich. Ben was wondering the same thing; she looked like she could use a good meal.

Rey ignored the question.

“Do you actually _like_ caviar?” she asked Ben.

He shrugged again. “It’s not that bad.” He hesitated, then– “do you want to try some?”

For a split-second, Ben thought he saw something awful and hungry and hurt flash across her face, but then the look was gone, and she was wrinkling her nose instead.

“Nah, I prefer food that doesn’t look like I already ate it,” she said, “I can’t believe your mom _feeds_ you that.”

She turned to face the others, all still munching away.

“Here's my impression of life at big Ben’s house.”

She adopted a surprisingly good British accent (for some reason), then spoke as if she was Leia Organa, “Oh, Benjamin, _dahhhling,_  a simple sandwich isn’t good enough for my beautiful baby boy set to shoulder the great Organa legacy! Here, try some fish eggs instead.”

Ben clenched his jaw but said nothing. For some reason, he didn’t want to hurt her, so he’d let her lie to herself. 

For now.

“Alright, what about your family?” Finn asked, watching her with interest.

Rey stiffened, but she didn’t shrink away.

“Oh, mine? That’s real easy,” she said. She slouched, pushing out a nonexistent gut, then spoke in a guttural, angry voice. “Stupid, worthless, scavenging little _bitch_.”

She raised her hand as if she was going to backhand someone cowering beneath her, and Ben’s stomach twisted again — this time from feeling sick.

“Your dad doesn’t…” Rose trailed off.

Rey dropped her hand, fixing Rose with a cool stare.

“Plutt isn’t my dad,” she corrected, “not my real dad, anyway. Just another lousy foster parent collecting a paycheck from the government.”

“Is that for real?” Finn asked. Concern and horror shadowed his face, spilling into the creases.

“You don't believe me?” Rey asked, glaring at him.

“No, I was just– ”

She cut him off by thrusting her arm in his face. She’d pushed up her sleeve again; her skin littered with what looked like…

“Do you believe this?” she asked, “they’re about the size of a cigar. See, this is what you get from Plutt when you don’t bring him enough.”

Ben’s stomach twisted terribly again; the smell of his lunch settling too deep in his nostrils, and he couldn’t stop himself.

“Bring him enough what?”

Rey didn’t answer. She just shook her head and stalked away from them, disappearing somewhere in the stacks on the library’s second floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would love to hear your thoughts on how you think these iconic characters will fare in Chapter 3, which yes, will culminate in the end of the high school years. 
> 
> Any guesses as to who did what (of those we don’t know yet) to get Saturday detention? It may not be what their sort of-mirrors did in the movie! Share your guesses in a comment! 
> 
> THANK YOU for reading! I'd love to hear any feedback in a comment or feel free to share your thoughts on [Tumblr](http://rebelrebelreylo.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/rebelrebelreylo) @rebelrebelreylo.
> 
> Finally, if you're enjoying this story and want to get email notifications when it's updated, please feel free to hit that Subscribe button! Thanks again, everyone. 😊


	4. Under Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Only way out, Solo,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Skywalker’s still in his office. You in?”
> 
> Ben bit the inside of his cheek, then nodded.
> 
> “Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no post! But I do come to you posting from my vacay in London... and that's pretty cool, right? For real though, thanks to everyone for their support; I appreciate your support and feedback very much. And of course a big thanks to my beta, [SageMcMae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageMcMae/pseuds/SageMcMae), for all her help and support!
> 
> Another big thank you to [Semperfidani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageMcMae/pseuds/SageMcMae) for this beautiful moodboard she made for this fic!
> 
> Hope you like!

“Where are you going?”

Rey shot them all a look over her shoulder. Ben sped up. In one stride, he was next to her; Finn, Poe, and Rose trailing behind them.

“How do you know where Skywalker went?” Finn asked. 

Rey shrugged.

“I don’t.”

“Well, then how do you know when he’ll be back?” Rose asked.

“I don’t,” Rey said. Her eyes shifted to Ben’s in a sideways glance.

“Being bad feels pretty good, huh?”

Ben couldn’t help the twitch of his lips.

“What’s the point in going to Rey’s locker?” Finn asked.

“Beats me,” Poe said, shrugging. 

“This is so stupid,” Finn continued, scowling, “Why do you think– why are we risking getting caught?”

“I dunno.”

“So then what are we doing?” Finn asked. 

“Ask me one more question,” Poe said, sarcasm sharpening each word. 

Finn’s scowl deepened, but he held back his retort when they stopped in front of Rey’s locker. As she pried it open, his eyes found Rose, whose nose wrinkled at the sight. 

“You really are a scavenger,” Rose said, glancing at Rey. Oddly enough, her face shone with something like admiration. 

Rey scoffed. “My maid’s on vacation.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” Rose said, pushing both Poe and Finn aside so she could peer further into the mess of odds and ends inside. “What you’ve got _looks m_ like junk ‘til you look a little closer…” She turned excited eyes back to Rey. “It looks like you’re building something.”

Surprise lifted Rey’s brows. She nodded.

“Something.”

“What is it?”

Rey didn’t answer. Instead, she stuck her hand, claw-like (it reminded Ben of the kind at an arcade, fishing for prizes worth less than the cost of the game) into the mass, pulling out–

“Drugs?” Finn asked, tone harsh and eyes bugging. 

Rey rolled her eyes back at him, then slapped the plastic bag against Poe’s chest. 

“The usual, plus a little extra. I want the rest of your lunch _and_ my cash this time.”

“What? Why?” Poe asked.

Rey jerked her head toward Rose. “Because you’re an asshole and I’m hungry, that’s why.”

“Screw that, Niima. Put it back,” Finn hissed, shooting harried glances back and forth between her and the marijuana. 

She ignored him, sidestepping Ben to stroll back down the hall, hands in pockets and slightly hunched over. Ben had the strangest idea that if he could still see her face, she’d look a little ashamed.

But he couldn’t. And who was he to judge?

His gaze flickered to Poe, who looked the exact opposite of ashamed. If anything, he looked defiant as he stuffed the bag into his jacket pocket.

Ben didn’t even bother shrugging. He just went after Rey.

“Drugs,” Finn continued, “That’s _marijuana_.” He said it to Poe and Rose like they didn’t understand English.

“Shut up, Sporto,” Poe snapped before following the first two.

“Do you approve of this?” Finn asked Rose. She _did_ shrug, but made after the rest of the group, forcing a disgruntled Finn to trail behind. 

 

///

 

“We’ll cross through the lab and then we’ll double back,” Rey said, peeking her head around a corner to make sure Skywalker wasn’t close by.

“You better be right,” Finn grumbled, “if Skywalker cuts us off it's your fault. _Scavenger_.”

Rey turned to glare at him, head still halfway around the corner when Luke appeared at the end of the hall, thankfully too distracted by his untied shoelace to notice her. She took the opportunity to slip back out of sight as he crouched down to fix it.

“Shit. Go!”

They did. Even Finn.

Rey led the way, and Ben couldn’t help but marvel at how the others followed without question. _Listened_. Himself included.

There wasn’t time to dwell too much, though — it seemed like they met Skywalker at every corner; every hope of escape, almost like he had some kind of supernatural intuition as to where they’d try next. At one junction, Ben almost took the whole group down in a clumsy slide across the linoleum, saved only by Rey’s simultaneous slip and outstretched hand. 

He hoped she didn’t see how red his ears got afterward.

It was only his uncle’s self-interest that saved them from being spotted. Seriously, for someone so old, the guy never stopped daydreaming. 

After a slew of failed attempts, Rey finally flung out an arm to stop them, cheeks tinged pink from all the running.

From the running, Ben reminded himself. _Not_ from the hand touch. 

“Wait, wait. Hold it,” she said, brows screwing up in concentration as she considered their remaining options, “we have to go through the cafeteria.”

“No, the activities hall,” Finn cut in, panting slightly, though decidedly less out of breath than the rest of them.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rey said.

“No, _you_ don’t know what you’re talking about,” Finn argued, “it’s because of you we’re out here, so we’re through listening to you. We’re going this way.”

He barreled forward without another word, but surprisingly, Rey went along, shaking her head. The rest of them followed suit, taking Finn’s advised left– 

Only to run straight into a hall closed by an iron gate.

Finn froze.

“ _Shit_.”

Rey folded her arms across her chest, cocking her hips.

“Great idea, Sporto.”

Finn spun, glaring at her.

“Fuck you, Scavenger.”

Something seared up Ben’s chest to his throat, and he stepped between the two of them, making sure to tower over Finn the best he could.

“Fuck you,” he spat, far too roughly, “Why didn’t you listen to Rey?”

A beat passed in charged silence, then–

“We’re dead,” Rose groaned.

The idea broke through Ben’s anger the way a finger snapped through silence. 

“No.” He bit the inside of his cheek, still glowering at Finn. “Just me.”

“What do you mean?” Rey asked. He felt her fingers ghost his forearm, and his heart jolted into action.

“Get back to the library,” he told them. “I got this.”

They stared. He swallowed. 

And then he burst out singing before he tore down the opposite hallway:

_I wanna be an airborne ranger..._

 

///

 

Luke found him dribbling a basketball in the gym. Ball to hand, to floor, to hand again — all to the beat of the song.

Back. And. Forth. Back. And. Forth.

“Ben.”

Ben didn’t let the surprise at his uncle’s tone — so _quiet_ — show on his face.

“Oh, hi.” 

He spun the ball on his pointer finger.

“What are you doing?” Luke asked.

“You _want_ to hear my excuse?” Ben asked. Again, far too sharp for the situation. “That’s funny.”

Luke sighed.

“Give me the ball.”

Ben clutched the ball close, then made to throw it — too fast, making Luke flinch, catching it in his fingertips at the last second. Grinning (admittedly, like an asshole), Ben stooped down, then rolled the ball gently over to him.

Luke stared back, surprisingly expressionless, then beckoned him to follow.

 

///

 

“Get your stuff. Let’s go.”

Ben didn’t look at any of the others — least of all Rey — as he gathered his things. Skywalker had forced him back here, probably to parade his idiocy in front of the others. 

Predictable.

“Solo took it upon himself to go to the gymnasium,” Skywalker said, “I’m sorry to inform the rest of you that you’re going to be without his services for the rest of the day. Tragic, I know.”

“You seem pretty cut up about it, sir,” Rey said. All three of the others exchanged wary glances as she talked back to him. Again. 

(For _him_.)

Ben smiled. Skywalker saw it.

“Everything’s a big joke to you, isn’t it?” Skywalker said. Ben wasn’t sure who he was talking to — himself, or Rey. Maybe it was both.

“You think she’s funny?” Skywalker asked, eyes darting between both of them, “You think this is cute? You think he’s _bitchin’_ , is that it? Let me tell you something,” his eyes crystallized, so blue and so cold Ben felt it trickle down his neck as he spoke, “look at each other. You’re both heading nowhere. _Determined_ to be no one.”

He turned to the others, now, the ice in his eyes; on his tongue.

“Go visit Ben Solo or Rey Niima in five years. You’ll see how goddamn funny they are.”

No one said a word. 

Skywalker clenched his hands into fists — too _familiar_ ; Ben screwed up his eyes, willing himself to forget he’d seen it — and then Skywalker continued, not soft, but certainly less cold.

“Let’s go.” He prodded Ben forward, and Ben reacted like he’d slapped him; shoving him off with a forearm. 

“Keep your hands off of me.”

Ben marched out of the library, still not meeting anyone else’s gaze. He thought he felt their eyes boring into his back, and the idea that she was watching made him want to turn around, but he didn’t.

At least he knew she would get a little lunch.

 

///

 

“That’s the last time, Ben.”

Ben snorted. The sound swelled in the little utility closet Luke had ushered him into; an offshoot from his office. It was humiliatingly small, especially for someone Ben’s size.

“I mean it,” Luke said, scrubbing at his stupid little beard, “I’ve had enough. Your mother has had enough. The mouthing off, the smoking, the fighting… Then this week — you’re not the first kid who’s father– ”

“Shut up.”

The words wrested out of him, half-strangled.

“Ben– ”

“I said _shut up._ ” Ben continued, every syllable scarlet and scorching.

“You know I’m going to have to tell Leia,” Luke said.

Ben scoffed.

“She doesn’t deserve this, Ben. You can’t keep doing this to her. To me.”

“Doing what, exactly?” Ben snarled, “Forcing you both to see that I’m still here?”

Luke paused. Something strange passed over his face, turning down the tips of his beard; creasing the crinkles around his eyes. It took Ben a moment to realize it looked a hell of a lot like pity.

“I’d hoped detention might humble you a little,” he said, “but it seems that was a lost cause. I’ve tried and tried with you, Ben, but you’re determined to be misunderstood, selfish; to push anyone close enough to care about you away. Know what that gets you? Absolutely nothing.” He set his jaw. “Even the Niima girl knows that.”

Ben let out a humorless laugh, folding his arms across his chest.

“Now who’s arrogant?” he asked. “You keep telling yourself you give a shit. That anything you say or do makes a difference. Not just with me, either — with any of us.”

Luke flinched so hard it made Ben jerk backward, but he said nothing. The movement faded, and his uncle let out a low, sinking sigh. And then he left, leaving Ben alone. Just like everyone else.

 

///

 

_Thump. Thump. Rattle._

Ben looked up. It sounded like the ceiling was about to cave in. Even if he hadn’t brushed it with his crown a few times already, he didn’t want it coming down on him. Like most suburban high schools, Shermer High wasn’t exactly state-of-the-art — who knew what lived and lurked up there.

Before he could try to find a little cover in the cramped closet, one of the panels slid away, revealing _Rey_. Ben’s jaw dropped as she hung halfway out of the ceiling, smirking.

“Care to join me?”

He eyed the opening with trepidation. Rey sliding around up there was one thing, but he carried a smidge more weight. (Give or take fifty pounds. Maybe more.)

“Only way out, Solo,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Skywalker’s still in his office. You in?”

Ben bit the inside of his cheek, then nodded.

“Let’s go.” 

With that, she backed away, disappearing from view. He heard a few more telltale _thumps_ ; it sounded like she was twisting and turning around in the tight space, and then she was shuffling back the way she’d come, murmuring for him to follow.

He did. Warily, he hoisted himself up, trying very hard to ignore how the panels seemed to shake a little under his weight. 

At least he had a nice view ahead of him.

 

///

 

 _BAM_.

Luke Skywalker twitched so badly at the resounding crash he almost fell out of his seat. 

“What in the–”

 

///

 

“Ben forgot his pencil.”

Ben tried to banish the sheepish grin growing on as his face as Rey jerked a thumb at him. The others just stared, open-mouthed, as he followed her down the stairs from the library’s second floor and back to their seats. 

To be fair, they _did_ just crash through the ceiling.

His smile was short-lived as frantic footsteps filtered in from down the hall.

Before he could react, Rey was pulling him toward her table and stuffing all 6’3’ of him underneath.

“Kriff! What on earth is going on in here?”

For once, Luke’s voice was welcome. Anything to focus on apart from the spot between Rey’s legs.

Ben swallowed; ears burning. He appreciated her attempt to hide him by sitting down, but the little table wasn’t exactly big enough for him, let alone both of them. And he’d thought Luke’s closet was cramped…

He had to move his head, but it was practically locked between Rey’s thighs. Did she realize that she’d let her legs fall open _just_ slightly? 

He averted his eyes; staring at the carpet instead, heart racing and thinking hard about how it was because Luke was right there. Could catch him any minute. 

It wasn’t because Rey’s crotch was practically in his face. He wasn’t a pervert.

But still, thank the Maker she was wearing jeans.

“What was that ruckus?” 

“What’s a ruckus?” Rey asked.

“I was just in my office and I heard a ruckus!”

“Could you describe the ruckus, sir?” Poe asked.

“Watch your tongue, Dameron,” Luke said.

Underneath the table, Ben tried shifting. If he could just inch a little bit backward–

 _THWAP_.

He grunted; head throbbing from where he’d just banged it on the table. Well, that was a bust.

Above him, Rey coughed. 

“What was that?” Luke asked. Ben didn’t need to see him to feel his uncle take a step closer to Rey’s table; if Luke had some sort of supernatural sense for rule-breaking, Ben usually sensed when he was on the hunt. Usually.

“What noise?” Poe asked.

“Really, sir, there wasn't any noise…” Rey said. She shifted in her seat, probably trying to appear casual, and Ben made his move, trying to get out of the way– 

He was too slow. She caught his head between her thighs again, this time squeezing. _Too tight._

Ben clamped his mouth shut, but the sound that came out of Rey’s mouth was probably best described as a squeal — no matter how quickly she managed to parlay it into a coughing fit. 

Thankfully, from the sound of it, the other three joined in. All hacking to hide him.

“That noise?” Rey asked, doing a decent job at sounding out of breath from her recovery, “Was that the noise you were talking about? You really _do_ care, sir.”  

“No,” Luke said, and Ben could taste his shrewd suspicion in the single word, “it wasn’t. That wasn’t the noise I was talking about. I may not have caught you in the act this time, but you can bet I will.”

To everyone’s surprise, Rose (it had to be her because it sure wasn’t Rey) let out a lone giggle.

“Count on it, Miss Tico,” Luke warned. A few moments passed. Ben didn’t hear him leave, but he knew the coast was clear because everyone else burst into more laughter, and Rey pushed herself away from the table. He took the cue to come out.

He expected her to be angry when he emerged, but she looked… _shy_. She was _blushing_.

At least her cheeks matched his ears. (Though he imagined the flush looked a lot prettier on her.)

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“It’s…it wasn’t your fault.” 

For the first time, she wouldn’t return his gaze, and a sinking feeling filled in his stomach. He bit the inside of his cheek. He should say something else–

“Feels like the room could use a little reefer to ease the tension,” Poe said, digging into his pocket. “Thanks for the extra, Rey.” He winked, and she seemed to come back to herself a little bit, frowning at him.

“You’re not gonna blaze up in here,” Finn said, frown matching Rey’s.

Poe shrugged, then made his way to the back of the library. Ben followed, then Rose. 

Rey met Finn’s eyes. An understanding passed between them, and then Finn stood. Together, they joined the other three.

 

///

 

“You roll them like this,” Poe said, demonstrating how to tuck. Ben wasn’t good at it; his fingers felt too big to be handling something this small.

Rey’s hand covered his, and he froze.

“Like this.” Deftly, she tucked the paper, sealing the joint from end to end.

“Thanks,” he muttered. She moved away, nodding, then held her own in front of her like she’d never seen one before. Across from them, Poe had paused, too.

“Have neither of you smoked before?” Ben asked. Finn looked stricken when neither Rey nor Poe responded right away, but Rose just looked thoughtful. Her eyes lingered on Poe.

“No,” Rey finally said, “I just deal. I’ve never tried anything.”

“What do you mean by anything?” Finn asked, eyes wide. He looked at her the same way she’d stared at the joint — like he was seeing her for the first time. 

Ben felt his stomach curdle with something sticky and uncomfortable. He didn’t like him looking at her like that.   

“I mean anything,” she said, “No drugs. No alcohol.”

“Not even beer?”

“No,” she said, glaring at him.

“Okay, okay,” he said, holding his hands up in defeat, his joint still firmly between two fingers. “Just asking.”

“Didn’t expect that from a garbage human like me?” she asked him, tone chilly.

Finn’s mouth fell open a little, and he stammered something incomprehensible, shame shadowing his face. Something else filled his eyes, too — _kindness_ , unmistakable and naked and streaming out, like it’d taken all he had to hide it, _harden_ it earlier.

Ben didn’t like that, either. 

“The point of the pot is to ease pain, not cause it,” Poe interrupted. He turned to Ben. “And no. To answer your question. I haven’t.”

 _That_ was certainly enough to draw Ben’s attention away from Finn and Rey.

“Then why–?”

“You get it for your _Abuela_ , don’t you?” Rose asked, still watching Poe with interest. He chuckled, but it was somehow a sad sound.

“Spot on,” he said, tipping his joint to her, “she has lung cancer.”

“She can’t…” Ben trailed off, looking at Poe, but then realization washed over him in a wave of clarity. He gripped his joint tighter.

“She’s illegal,” Poe said, voice tight, “no health insurance.”

“I didn’t know that,” Rey said. Poe gave her a small smile, shrugging again.

“Yeah, well. Like I said. This little extra can relieve _our_ tension, how’s that?” His smile bloomed into a full (shit-eating) grin. “Shall we?”

 

///

 

Within half an hour, they were all laughing hysterically.

“This… is… freeing,” Rose said, giggling again. She sunk into her armchair, looking almost boneless against the fabric; all tension fled from her small frame.

Rey cackled, and Ben reached over to re-light her joint. She smiled at him, lazily, then inhaled again — before coughing the smoke out.

Poe laughed. The sound echoed through the stacks, and the rest of them joined in as he exhaled and tried eating the smoke. He looked remarkably like a guppy when he did that.

“Chicks cannot hold der smoke,” he said, adopting a strange, high-pitched voice as he said it. 

“Do you know how popular I am?” Finn asked, eyes half-closed. “I’m so popular, everybody loves me so much at this school.”

“Poor baby,” Rey remarked, rolling her eyes. Ben couldn’t even be bothered by how there was no malice in her words.

Poe rose, swaying slightly, still holding his smoldering joint between two fingers. He twirled, rocking his hips from side-to-side in some sort of (what looked like) Latin dance. Despite being blitzed out of his brain, he was a good dancer. He tried pulling Rose up with him, but she wouldn’t budge, a deep blush painting her cheeks as she continued to giggle uncontrollably. 

“You got a middle name?” Finn asked quite suddenly, eyes fixated on Rose. She giggled again.

“Guess.”

“You don’t have one,” Rey piped up. She leaned back in her armchair, legs folded over the side. “Not in English, anyway.”

Rose stared at her, surprised.

“Your birthday is January 17th — happy belated, by the way —  you’re 5 feet and 2 inches tall and your social security number is 0-4-9-3-8-0-9-1.”

Everyone looked at Rey. Then, Rose.

“Are you psychic?” Finn asked, shifting his gaze back to Rey.

“No,” she said, crossing one leg over the other.

“Well, would you mind telling me how you know all this about me?” Rose asked. She blinked at Rey. To Ben, it looked like she was trying to shake away some of the high.

“I took your wallet.” Rey grinned, holding up a blue, square pouch. It even had a rose sticker on the side.

“Give it to me,” Rose insisted, reaching for it. Rey shrugged, tossing it to her. She caught it in two hands.

“So you are a thief, then?” Rose asked, rifling through the wallet to check if anything was missing.

“I’m not a thief,” Rey said, frowning, “a scavenger, maybe, but not a thief.”

“Multi-talented?” Rose asked, raising a brow. She shut the wallet, pocketing it. She did seem soberer, now, at least.

“What’s there to steal?” Rey asked, shrugging again. “A few bucks and your library card? Though, you really shouldn’t carry your social around in your wallet.”

“Fair enough,” Rose admitted. She mirrored Rey, crossing one leg over the other. “Why take it, then?”

Rey paused, glancing at the three boys, still there, but suddenly silent. Still smoking, still watching.

“The boys were getting boring.” She winked, and Rose smiled.

“Ouch, Rey,” Poe said, putting a hand to his heart. “Ben and Finn, I’ll grant you, but I am anything but boring.”

Ben and Finn both frowned, but Rey just smirked.

“Oh? Prove it.”

Poe grinned, then pulled his wallet from his back pocket, lobbing it to her. She caught it easily, then threw it right into Ben’s lap. 

“C’mon, Solo. He just called you boring! I didn’t get you out of that closet so you could sulk in silence.”

Ben’s lips twitched. He opened the wallet, then thumbed through the contents, quirking a dark brow.

“Are all of these your girlfriends?” he asked, flipping through Poe’s extensive photo collection of smiling girls.

“Some of them,” Poe said, stretching his arms high above his head.

“What about the others?” Ben asked, curiosity piqued. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t surprised. He’d been starting to think…

“Well, some I consider my girlfriends. And some…” Poe’s smile grew, and if the weed wasn’t making Ben’s brain feel like molasses, he might’ve caught the hint of bitterness hiding behind Poe’s perfect teeth. “I just consider.”

“Consider what?” Rose asked.

“Whether or not I want to hang out with them,” Poe finished, letting his arms fall behind his head.

“You don’t believe in just one guy, one girl?” Ben asked. He didn’t dare look over at Rey. 

He didn’t dwell on why he was worried about doing so.

“Yes,” Rey interrupted. Ben couldn’t help himself; his eyes found hers. She met his gaze just for a moment, then looked back at Poe. “That’s the way it should be.”

Poe’s smile flickered, then settled into something else — not a frown, not displeasure, but something more resigned. A sort of soft half-smile that seemed to say he’d expected as much. Something snapped in Ben’s brain, but he didn’t voice it.

“Well, not for me.”

“Why not?” Finn asked.

Poe sat up a little straighter in his seat, then glanced over at Finn. He was still clutching his joint, though he’d smoked the thing down to the last bit.

“How come you’re still holding onto that?”

Finn frowned again. When his face was open, it was almost alarmingly expressive, at least compared to earlier in the day. His eyes most of all. Ben preferred him masked.

“I dunno,” he said, shrugging, staring at the joint a little too hard, slightly unfocused, “I guess I never throw anything away.”

“Neither do I,” Poe quipped.

“Scavengers, all of us,” Rey added. She said it softly, but they all heard.

“Right,” Finn said, “We saw your locker.”

Rey ignored him.

“What’re you building?” Rose asked.

“A car,” Rey said. She smiled, but it wasn’t lazy. More dreamy than that — hopeful.

“That’s what the gaskets were for,” Rose said, nodding a little. “Nice.”

“What’re you building a car for?” Finn asked. Rey took a final drag of her joint before she answered.

“You never know when you may have to jam.”

Ben pulled himself up a little in his chair.

“So you’re saying you’d subject yourself to the violent dangers of the Chicago streets because your home life is…unsatisfying?” he asked. 

“Unsatisfying? Is that what you’d call it?” she asked. She laughed. It sounded bitter. “I don’t have to run away and live in the street. I can run away and go to the ocean, or to the country. I can go to the mountains or the forest. I’d like to see a forest. A real one.”

“Then why’re you still here?” Ben asked.

“Ben,” and it was Finn who’d interrupted them, and Ben’s blood boiled a little at how calm he looked as he spoke, “Stop it, all right? You’re pushing where you shouldn’t.”

“Never mind,” Rey muttered, “Forget it. Everything’s cool.” She stood up, slipping away toward the stacks, and Ben didn’t listen to Finn try to call him back, or Poe say something to Rose. He just followed her.

“Hey,” he said, finding her huddled near the engineering section, “You wanna talk?”

“No.”

“Why not?” he asked, shuffling a little closer. She’d leaned back against a bookshelf, arms crossed over her chest, staring straight ahead. As he approached, his shadow hovered over her. He bit the inside of his cheek. 

“Go away, Ben.”

He flinched.

“Where do you want me to go?”

“Go. Away.”

Ben didn’t move. Why was it suddenly so hard to move? 

Rey noticed, and something halfway between a grunt and sob erupted from her throat. He took another step closer to her, and she turned her back toward him.

“Rey,” he said, keeping his voice low, “What is it? What’s making you stay?” He paused, swallowing. It was difficult with the lump in his throat. “You shouldn’t, you know. Not with a man like that. There are… people who can help.”

She looked at him over her shoulder, face wet.

“You’re not alone,” he whispered. She dragged in a breath, then wiped her face with the back of her hand.

“Neither are you.”

 

///

 

“Hey, Luke, w-w-what’re you doin’ here, partner?”

Luke looked up from the stack of paperwork putting him to sleep. 

“Oh, hey, DJ,” he said, smiling wanly, “I’m on detention duty. I didn’t know they had you pulling Saturday shifts.”

DJ shrugged, sliding into the room with a kind of loping grace that didn’t really fit his position. Almost like he was meant for more than cleaning up after a bunch of entitled kids.

Luke sighed.

“What did you want to be when you were young?”

DJ’s laugh was a rumble, deep and soothing. Like a thunderstorm. He bent to pick up Luke’s trash can, depositing the contents into his larger one, then returned it to the floor.

“I’m still young.”

“You know what I mean,” Luke continued, steepling his fingers together under his chin. DJ furrowed his brow in thought, leaning against the edge of his bin, gripping the sides with gloved hands.

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be a spy.”

“You sure you’re not one now?” Luke asked, raising a brow in mock suspicion.

“N-n-now, if I told you that, I’d have to k-k-kill you,” DJ said. He winked, and Luke chuckled.

“In all seriousness, though,” Luke continued, “I’ve been teaching for twenty-two years, and each year these kids get more and more arrogant.”

When DJ didn’t respond right away, Luke looked back up at him. “What?”

DJ shook his head.

“That’s b-b-bullshit, man. C’mon, Big L, these kids haven’t changed. You have. It’s work, what you do, and it’s the p-p-pressure, and the fear of failing them. But you can’t save them all.”

Ben’s face swam in Luke’s mind’s eye, but he shook his head, now, shaking it away until he could only see DJ still standing in front of him.

“No, no. These kids have turned on me. You think about this, DJ. When you and I get old, these kids — they’ll run the country.”

“So?”

“Now this is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night…” Luke trailed off, gaze going somewhere far away (a place he saw his nephew dabbling in dark things, and his sister crying in a house all by herself, and him, Luke, helpless and hovering over a gravestone, mourning a man who couldn’t help any of them anymore), “That when I get older, these kids are gonna take care of me.”

DJ chewed on that. Literally, chewed on a toothpick he’d plucked from his pocket, thoughtful.

“I w-w-wouldn’t count on it.”

 

///

 

“What would I do for a million bucks?”

They’d moved to the second level — the section Ben and Rey hadn’t crashed through, anyway — and now sat together in a circle on the floor. Rey had her back perched against a pillar, while Ben sat next to her with Poe on his other side. Next to him, Rose, then Finn. All together again.

“Well, I guess I'd do as little as I had to…” Rose continued. 

“That’s boring,” Poe said.

“Well, how am I supposed to answer?” Rose asked.

“The idea is to search your mind for the absolute limit. Example: would you drive to school naked?”

Rose blushed again. “No,” she said, “Absolutely not.”

“Would I have to get out of the car?” Finn asked.

“Of course,” Poe said.

“In spring, or winter?”

Ben rolled his eyes. Poe _winked_.

“Either one.”

“Probably. Yes,” Finn said.

“Wow,” Rose said, staring at him. She looked down at her hands clutching jean-clad knees. “What _is_ the absolute limit, though?”

“Good question,” Poe said, nodding in her direction. “In this case, probably sex.”

“You mean for _money_?” Finn asked, mouth agape.

“Yeah,” Poe said, shrugging.

“But that’s illegal,” Rose said.

“A lot of things are illegal,” Poe said, strangely closed-off. 

“Yeah, but– ”

“I didn’t say I’d do it,” Poe said, “just that it was the limit. Anyway, I wouldn’t expect a bunch of prudes like you to see my point.”

“Ease off, Poe,” Rey said.

“Have you ever done it?” Poe asked her. 

A shadow passed over her face.

“Had sex for money?” she asked. “Are you seriously asking me that?”

“No,” Poe continued, “Had sex with a normal person.”

Ben inhaled a little too loudly. Rey shot him a sharp look, then looked back at Poe.

“Look, I'm not gonna discuss my personal life with total strangers.”

“Didn’t have much an issue doing that earlier,” Finn muttered.

“It's kind of a double-edged sword, isn’t it?” Poe pressed, “if you say you haven’t, you're a prude. If you say you have, you’re a slut. It's a trap. You want to but you can't but when you do you wish you didn't, right?”

Rose let out a hollow laugh, and Rey glared at her.

“What?” Rose said, “He’s not wrong.”

“Whatever,” Rey said.

“Just answer the question,” Poe said.

“It’s no big deal, Rey,” Rose said.

“Be honest,” Finn added.

“Like you’ve been?” Rey shot back.

“I’ve never done it,” Ben burst in. 

Everyone fell silent. 

Nervously, Ben ran a hand through his hair as he continued. “I told Poe and Rey already, but yeah. I’ve never done it.”

“Why not?” Poe asked, eyes sweeping over him. Ben shrugged.

“Haven’t met the right person yet.”

A moment passed, then–

“I haven’t either,” Rey finally said. “I would, though. If you love someone…” She trailed off.

“Same here,” Rose said, smiling at her. “On both accounts.”

“Me too,” Finn said.

Poe’s smile faded away, but then — surprisingly — he chimed in.

“Me too.”

Ben looked at his feet. 

“Well, that was bizarre,” he said, scratching at the back of his head.

“What's bizarre?” Finn asked, “We're all pretty bizarre.” He fiddled with his shoelaces. “Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all.”

“How are _you_ bizarre?” Rey asked pointedly.

“He can't think for himself.” 

The words escaped Ben before he could weigh them, and when they came out, they felt heavy — like each one fell to the floor with a thud, settling between them all. Finn stared at him, expressionless.

And then, he sighed, long and slow.

“He’s right,” he admitted, “do you… do you guys know what I did to get in here?”

“No,” Rose said, voice soft. Finn didn’t look back at her.

“I… taped Dopheld Mitaka’s butt cheeks together.”

It was Poe’s turn to let out a bitter little laugh.

“That was you?” Ben asked. 

“Yeah, you know him?” Finn asked. He raised his eyes to meet his, and Ben nodded.

“Yeah. Nice guy,” Ben said. 

“Yeah, he is,” Rose added.

Finn sighed again, still fiddling with his shoelaces. They were tied too tight.

“Well, then you know he’s a small kid,” he continued, “Scrawny. When they pulled the tape off, some… some of his skin came off, too.”

“Jesus,” Poe muttered.

“And the bizarre thing is,” Finn kept going, each word sounding like a struggle, “I don’t really know _why_ I did it. Because of my coach? Maybe. She’s a hardass and a sadist but I got caught, and that’s no good in her eyes. Because of my old guardian? Probably because of him… even though he’s gone now.”

He paused, looking at Ben with watery eyes.

“I tortured this poor kid because I wanted him to think that I was cool, and I couldn’t get _his_ voice out of my head…always going off about discipline, and _weakness_. So, I’m…I’m sitting in the locker room, and I’m taping up my knee. And Mitaka’s undressing a few lockers down from me. And he’s skinny, and he’s _weak_ , and the voice fills my head again, _inescapable_ , like it’s programmed or something, and the next thing I knew, I started in on him.”

Finn swallowed. Licked his lips, eyes still shining.

“And my friends? They just _laughed_. They cheered me on. And after, when I was sitting in Skywalker’s office, all I could think about was Mitaka’s dad. Not just how he had one, but how he’d have to go home and…and explain what happened. And the humiliation,” his voice shook, “the fucking _humiliation_ he’s must’ve felt. It must’ve been unreal. I mean…”

He shook his head, tears falling freely now, not just burning at the corners of his eyes. 

“I mean, how do you apologize for something like that? There’s no way. It’s all because of me and my fucked-up guardian. God, I fucking hate him! He’s like this…he’s like this mindless machine; so _cold_. Sure, I got away from him, but I’m no better. I can still hear him. He’s in my head. All the time.”

Ben looked at the floor.

“I think your guardian and my guardian should get together and go bowling,” Rey said, voice soft. 

Finn’s lips twitched, and she gave him a watery smile. He nodded, then wiped his tears away with the back of his hand.

“It’s like me, you know, with my grades,” Rose murmured, “like when I step outside of myself…when I look at myself…I see me and I don't like what I see, I really don't.”

“Why?” Poe asked. “What don’t you like about yourself?”

She paused. 

“I’ll never be good enough,” Rose whispered, “Never good enough for them. Never as good as Paige.” She gripped her knees harder, still staring at her hands. 

“Your sister?” Poe asked. Rose nodded, finally looking up.

“She’s never failed at anything.”

“What did you fail at?” Finn asked.

Rose hesitated, then–

“Gym.”

“...Gym,” Finn repeated.

“Yes, gym!” Rose said, sounding defensive. “I thought I was playing it smart; I thought it would be an easy way to maintain my grade point average…”

“I mean, it _should_ be,” Rey muttered. Ben glanced at her, but she ignored him.

“Anyway,” Finn said, sounding flustered. “How’d you fail gym?”

“I failed the fitness test,” she admitted. “That’s why I’m here today.”

“You got detention for failing the fitness test?” Ben asked.

“Well, no,” she admitted, “I…may or may not have lost it on Ms. Tano when she told me she’d have to tell my sister.”

“Ah,” Ben said.

“Is it weird I’m actually kind of proud of you right now?” Poe asked. Rose looked back down at her lap, but none of them missed the way a smile seemed to tug at the corner of her mouth.

“I’ll help you,” Finn offered, “Help you train, I mean. If you want.”

The smile filled Rose’s face now.

“That’s…really nice. Thank you, Finn.”

Rey puffed out an obnoxiously loud breath.

“Touching.”

“Don’t be a shit, Rey,” Poe said.

“Oh, please, Poe — don’t pretend it’s the same. No offense,” Rey said, shaking her head at Rose, “but you worrying about measuring up to your sister isn’t a real problem. Not compared to what he’s going through, or him,” she nodded toward Finn, then Poe, “or even Solo.”

She jerked a thumb at him. It wasn’t her singling him out that surprised him, or how every word came out a barb — it was that she’d directed them at _Rose_ , of all people. 

“I…didn’t realize it was a contest,” Rose said, frowning. 

“Don’t you mean you?” Ben asked.

“Me, what?” Rey returned, narrowing her eyes.

“You know what I meant,” Ben said, “Say it.”

She didn’t. He could see the refusal in her eyes; the denial.

“What do you care what I think, anyway?” she snarled, “I don’t even count, right? I could disappear forever and it wouldn't make any difference…I may as well not even exist at this school. I’m nothing, remember?”

“We all have problems, Rey, and we all have feelings,” Rose said.

“Don’t compare yourself to me,” Rey said, voice growing louder, “You’ve _got_ someone. And you– ” She turned on Ben, eyes burning, “ –you have _everything_ , and you just want to throw it all away.”

“I told you earlier,” Ben said — quiet, calm, almost commanding, “You’re not alone.” He paused. “We’re all here.”

Rey studied him for a moment, then shook her head and stared in the opposite direction, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I was just thinking,” Rose started, “What’s going to happen on Monday?”

Another pause.

“What do you mean?” Ben asked.

“When we're all together again,” she explained, “I mean…I consider you guys my friends.” Her gaze shifted to each of them. “I'm not wrong, am I?”

“No…” Ben said.

“Liar,” Poe said. His nostrils flared.

“What makes you think I’m lying?” Ben asked.

“Because you’re one of _them_ ,” Poe said, “And guys like you are always the same. Say one thing, do another. Bullshit.”

“I haven’t lied once while we’ve been here,” Ben said, “Can you say the same? Why are _you_ here, Dameron? Your song and dance all day is the real fucking bullshit show.”

When Poe said nothing, he kept pushing.

“Who talks first? You talk first, I talk first?”

“Fuck you, Solo,” Poe said, all trace of any smile gone from his face. Instead, shame shrouded his eyes, casting shadows over his face. “You don’t know what you’re even talking about.”

“Don’t accuse me of lying if you can’t even tell us the truth,” Ben bit back.

Poe paused, then cursed under his breath.

“Fine,” he growled, “You really wanna know?” He clenched his jaw. “I’m in here for assault.”

“What?” Rey asked, leaning forward.

“Assault,” Poe repeated. 

He stood, shaking out his limbs. He seemed to be buzzing with a kind of nervous, almost manic energy. 

“That’s what they called it. That’s what _he_ called it.”

“What do you mean?” Finn asked.

Just as quickly as he’d started to pace, Poe froze. The only part of him that moved was his hands — flexing fingers, folding into fists. Rinse and repeat.

“There was this guy,” he said, slowly, “I…thought he was nice. We hit it off, I thought. We…we got a little carried away, I’d never — it was so… _different_ than anything else I’d done before, even though it felt… _right_ , good, I don’t know.” 

He focused on the floor, hands falling slack. His next words were barely more than a whisper.

“When we got caught, he claimed it was _assault_.” Another bitter chuckle. He looked up, looking back at Ben, eyes blazing. “It wasn’t.”

Ben didn’t flinch. He looked back, a frown furrowing his brow.

“Skywalker didn’t believe you?”

“No idea,” Poe said, “Even if he did, he couldn’t — it’s his word against mine, anyway. He got detention, too. Separately, obviously. ‘Least he didn’t tell my _Abuela_ the whole story.”

Rey let out a long sigh. Finn fiddled with his shoelaces again, glancing between each of them. Rose watched Poe, hugging herself. 

“When you grow up, your heart dies,” she murmured.    

“Yeah, well,” Poe said, sitting back down, “Who cares?” 

“I care,” Rey murmured. She met Rose’s eyes, giving her a tentative smile. Rose returned it.

“That just leaves you two,” Finn said, eyes flicking between Ben and Rey. “Why are you here?”

“Would’ve thought it’d be obvious by now,” Rey said. 

“Nothing is obvious about any of us,” Ben said.

Rey looked like she wanted to snark back, but she held her tongue. Instead, she just nodded.

“I’m here because my uncle found a gun in my locker.”

Rey’s head snapped to look at him once he’d said it, and relief flooded through him. It felt good to say it out loud.

“Why’d you have a gun in your locker?” Rose asked.

“Ben…” Rey started, and everything about the way she said it made his insides squiggly again; shame and guilt and grief warring with a feeling of belonging, being seen. Being understood. 

_Neither are you._

“It wasn’t for what you’re thinking,” he continued, “it…it belonged to my dad. It was a flare gun from his plane. He gave it to me before he– ” he sucked in a breath, “he said to use it when I…when I needed help. Like a sign.”

Another long pause.

“It was stupid,” Ben said, voice low, “I know it was.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Rey murmured. She gave him another small, soft smile, and something expanded in his chest — so fast, so wide — that he didn’t even see Rose nod, or Finn watch with something like consideration, or Poe’s eyes gleam with knowing.

He smiled back.

“It definitely was, at least a little bit.”

Rey’s smile became a laugh. 

“Do you know why I’m here?” Rey asked.

Ben shook his head, and her smile flickered — like a lightbulb struggling to stay lit. She shrugged.

“Nowhere else to go, and here’s better than home.”

 

— — —

 

Rey was a good dancer.

At least, Ben thought so. She moved well with Poe, who kept taking turns twirling her and Rose to Bowie’s _Let’s Dance_. 

Back on the main floor of the library, there was more room to move; to breathe — and they didn’t have to talk. They’d done so much of that already. So Poe had risked playing a song on the library’s ancient cassette player, and here they were. 

“You ever wish you could move like that?” 

Ben glanced up from writing to look at Finn. He’d agreed to write the essay for all of them; after all, what could Luke do to the others once they’d all left for the day? He might as well take one for the team.

“So freely,” Finn continued. His eyes followed Poe, grinning widely as both girls giggled around him.

“I don’t know,” Ben said. For a moment, Finn looked deep in thought, still watching.

“I think it’s a choice,” he finally said, “I wouldn’t have said so before today, but now...” he trailed off.

“You think it’s a choice? To be free; happy?” Ben asked. He couldn’t help how scorn seemed to creep into the sentence. “After everything you’ve done? Everything that’s happened to you?”

Finn looked back over at Poe, Rose, and Rey.

“Yes. I do.”

 

— — —

 

“You owe me a dance.”

“Yeah, we’ll see,” Ben said, trying to cover how much his ears burned at the thought. Like it mattered — Rey couldn’t see his ears. 

He’d followed her more closely through the ceiling ducts this time — he didn’t want a repeat performance of their earlier crash. Thankfully, she’d offered to help him sneak back now that the day was nearly done.

“Here.”

Carefully, she slid the ceiling panel aside, then slipped down into the closet, quick and quiet as a cat. Ben followed, trying his best not to be bumbling. He wasn’t particularly graceful, but he managed not to make too much noise. He could just hear Luke’s voice on the other side of the door.

He’d landed close to her, just a few inches away. Tight quarters, but still, he should–

“Are you saying you wouldn’t want to dance with me?” Rey asked. She looked...somehow hopeful and wry all at once. Her eyes swept over his face, and it felt like the burning followed them, pink and heat blazing a path across his cheeks. He gulped.

“I’d love to dance with you,” he murmured, afraid his voice might carry.

She gave him another soft smile. His fingers found her forearms, fingering the sleeves of her shirt, and before he could really think it through, he’d pressed a kiss to her cheek. 

Now _her_ cheeks burned.

“What’d you do that for?” she asked, a little breathlessly.

“Because I knew you wouldn’t,” he said, smiling at her reaction. She bit her lip, then beamed. 

“You’re right.”

Suddenly, she was even closer, and then her arms were around his neck and she was on her tiptoes and then _she_ was kissing him, and Ben’s shyness melted away; there was no room in this cramped little closet left to be shy. So he returned the kiss, soft and sweet and simmering; thumbing Rey’s hips and doing his best not to back her into a corner.

When she pulled away, he didn’t let her go too far. He bent his head to hers and breathed her in, and that seemed okay because she brushed her thumb against his cheek, his lips. 

“You’ve got the letter?”

He nodded.

“I’ll give it to him when he lets me out.”

Rey nodded, then glanced up at the ceiling.

“Can I climb you to help myself get up there?”

He laughed. And then, she did.

 

///

 

“You’re dismissed,” Skywalker said, eyes lingering on Rey, “See you bright and early next Saturday, Niima.”

Rey was tempted to mock-salute him but held back. After all — she grinned, thinking back to a cramped closet, a sweet kiss, and a big Ben — Saturday detention wasn’t _so_ bad.

She followed the others outside, smiling and laughing. Finn and Rose held hands on the way out, while Poe strolled alongside them, goggling and grinning, but they didn’t seem to care too much.

Orange and hazy pink painted the sky, despite the early hour. Strange, how long and short a day could feel. Rey waited and watched as Finn kissed Rose on the cheek goodbye before she got picked up by a girl who had to be her sister. 

Finn himself went next, clambering into an old van driven by a pretty blonde woman with lavender streaks in her hair. He waved goodbye to Rey, wearing a small smile, and she felt that same strange but exhilarating feeling of the whole world _shifting_ around her again. For the better. 

She touched her lips with two fingers.

No. For the best.

Poe went last. An elderly woman came for him, looking somehow both out of place and perfectly suited to the bright orange Camaro she drove up in. He didn’t climb in right away. Instead, he lingered, looking back at Rey. 

“She loves you, right?” Rey asked.

“More than anything else in the world, probably,” he said.

Rey shrugged.

“Then nothing will change that. You already have everything you need, Poe. Just go.”

He looked like he was going to say something else, but at that exact moment, his _Abuela_ honked the aging horn, and he jumped, then burst into laughter.

“See you around, Scavenger.”

He waved, too, then got in the car, and the pair zoomed away.

Rey kept waiting. Could Ben have left already? No, he’d have to come out front. She glanced to the parking lot; his car was still there, and so was Skywalker’s.

She waited until the sun was really setting before she left; nearly an hour. She could always catch Ben at school on Monday, she reasoned, and she didn’t want him to think she was too eager, or to intrude on something happening between him and his uncle. 

Still, something squiggled uncomfortably in her stomach at the fact that he hadn’t come out yet. It felt ominous, somehow. But that was silly. She’d see him Monday.

She turned out to be wrong.

The next time Rey would see Ben would be ten years later — at the exact spot she’d waited for him, looking up at the school from the front lawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is probably the longest chapter I've written in YEARS. I hope it didn't FEEL too long because it felt slightly odd to break it up in terms of the timeline of high school vs. what will be 10 years later, and was fairly heavy in dialogue. Que será, será. 
> 
> Speaking of — would love to hear your thoughts on the end of the high school years! And how our favorite characters may fare 10 years later... 
> 
> THANK YOU for reading! I'd love to hear any feedback in a comment or feel free to share your thoughts on [Tumblr](http://rebelrebelreylo.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/rebelrebelreylo) @rebelrebelreylo.
> 
> Finally, if you're enjoying this story and want to get email notifications when it's updated, please feel free to hit that Subscribe button! Thanks again, everyone. 😊

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love your feedback. Thanks so much!


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